title: Structure of a packaging-defective mutant of minute virus of mice indicates that the genome is packaged via a pore at a 5-fold axis.
abstract: The parvovirus minute virus of mice (MVM) packages a single copy of its linear single-stranded DNA genome into preformed capsids, in a process that is probably driven by a virus-encoded helicase. Parvoviruses have a roughly cylindrically shaped pore that surrounds each of the 12 5-fold vertices. The pore, which penetrates the virion shell, is created by the juxtaposition of 10 antiparallel β-strands, two from each of the 5-fold-related capsid proteins. There is a bottleneck in the channel formed by the symmetry-related side chains of the leucines at position 172. We report here the X-ray crystal structure of the particles produced by a leucine-to-tryptophan mutation at position 172 and the analysis of its biochemical properties. The mutant capsid had its 5-fold channel blocked, and the particles were unable to package DNA, strongly suggesting that the 5-fold pore is the packaging portal for genome entry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Plevka
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hafenstein
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Abrgamo
authors.forename: Susan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Cotmore
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Rossmann
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tattersall
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D002213:Capsid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000378:metabolism*; D007930:Leucine / Q000235:genetics; D008915:Minute Virus of Mice / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D020125:Mutation, Missense; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000235:genetics; D019065:Virus Assembly
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; D004279:DNA, Viral; D014364:Tryptophan; D007930:Leucine